Always There
by Sahara Storm
Summary: [Oneshot, ShikaIno] She was somehow... always there. (No doubt, this was going to be troublesome.)


_Always There_

**_A/N: - _**ShikaIno, my first, and most likely my last. This shoul have been posted a LONG time ago. It takes place sometimes after the preliminary matches.

For some reason, writing this was very hard for me; I had trouble getting their characters down. I think I have Ino done pretty well, but I'm not so sure about Shikamaru. This is one of the most clichéd plots in existence, but I hope I made it interesting. I don't know, tell me what you all think. Enjoy. :-)

To everyone who is waiting for Chapter 4 of Sasuke's Cherry Blossom...erm...sorry. It should be up by Tuesday.

Oh, and BTW, sorry about the crappy title. Couldn't think of anything else.

**Disclaimer: - **I'm fifteen, broke, and I write fanfiction. What about any of this suggests that I, in any way, own _Naruto_?

* * *

Cottony tufts of fluff meandered across the pale blue sky. A soft breeze blew, ruffling the topknot of the boy who lay splayed out on the pasture on his back. He chewed on a blade of grass as he stared up at the sky wistfully. 

_The clouds are nice,_ he thought contentedly. He exhaled slowly. He could stay here all day, the clouds up above, the wind in his hair, the deer in the backdrop and the sheer, utter peacefulness of the ambience.

"Shika!"

The yell pierced through the silence like a rock crashing through a glass window. The boy sighed deeply, groaning as he shut his eyes. _Now? Oh man, please, not now. _

"Shikamaru!"

He grumbled, mumbling a few choice words under his breath as he rose slightly, supporting himself on his elbows. He perused the vista lazily with his eyes. Just barely, he could make out a vague blur of purple and blonde.

Damn it.

The purple and blonde thing waved, and Shikamaru gave another sigh. He settled on his back again, hands interlocked behind his head. It couldn't be helped; she'd already seen him. It would be too much trouble to try and get away, anyway. He stared up at the heavens, enjoying his last few moments of tranquillity.

Presently, the blur presented itself. Now that it was stationary, it revealed itself to be Ino, hair slightly tousled and unkempt, chest heaving, arms akimbo and eyes dangerously narrowed.

Shikamaru sighed yet again. How had he known that she would be the one to eventually find him? She was somehow just always there, loud, boisterous, energetic, bossy, and when she needed to be, reprimanding.

No doubt, this was going to be troublesome.

"Where have you been!"

She plopped down on the ground next to him and started poking him in the shoulder, forcing him to sit upright.

"I've been looking for you all day!"

Shikamaru grumbled, and rubbed his shoulder, then his head.

"I've been here all day. Why?"

"Asuma-sensei asked me to help him look for you. You're supposed to be training for the main matches," she said, a bit reproachfully. He frowned, and made a face.

"Humph. That Asuma. Always bitching at me, everyday. Can't I have a few days to myself?" Ino's eyes widened, as if the notion was ridiculous.

"No, you lazy bum! You've got to practice and train as if your life depended on it! Don't you want to win?" She shook her head. "Now, more than half the day is gone. I probably would have found you sooner, if your equally lazy best friend hadn't begged off, and refused to help." Her cerulean eyes narrowed. "Come to think of it, he probably knew you were here the whole time!"

Shikamaru gave the barest hint of a smile. Good ol' Chouji.

"So, how'd you manage to find me?" He settled on the soft earth again, hands stacked behind his head. Ino sat cross-legged alongside him.

"Well, after searching _the whole of Konoha_, I realized that I hadn't checked the most obvious place; your home. When I got here, Nara-san told me that you were most likely in the pastures. I've spent the past half an hour running around this place. Never knew it was so damn big.(1)"

Shikamaru raised a brow.

"All that trouble for me?"

She frowned and shrugged.

"Well, Asuma-sensei asked me to, so…..And you're my team-mate, Shikamaru. I want you to win."

His shoulders ascended, then sank.

"Thanks Ino…..I guess."

She gave a bright smile, and got to her feet.

"Sure. Now come on, let's go. The day isn't over yet, and Asuma-sensei is waiting."

Shikamaru's mouth twisted into something of a half-pout, half-frown. He looked up at the firmament longingly, and gave his trademark, I'm-so-weary-of-troublesome-things sigh.

"Now? Can't I stay a little longer?"

Ino looked positively livid.

"No, you can't! Shikamaru, you've got to train, and get stronger! Then, you can beat up the other guy with a sixteen hit combo!" She demonstrated with unnecessary exuberance. "You know, you're doubtless the only genin who got into the main matches who's not taking this thing seriously. Shino's gotten Kurenai-sensei, Kiba and Hinata to help him out. Tenten told me she and Neji have been training hard each day, going well into the night. Even Naruto has been seen with some big old guy who's supposedly supervising his training. And Sasuke-kun? Neither he nor his sensei have been seen since the preliminary matches." She clasped her hands in front of her face, and her azure eyes glowed. "He's probably off on some valiant training mission, honing his already brilliant skills."

He frowned.

"Or not. Most geniuses are in actuality really lazy."

He narrowly missed catching a fist upside the head from his enraged team-mate. (No amazing reflexes at work here; Ino was just a bit off.)

"Don't say such things!" the flaxen blonde yelled with fire in her eyes. "Not everyone is as lazy as you, Shikamaru!"

He blanched, and his eyebrows shot into his hairline.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry."

"What's so exciting about looking at the clouds, anyway?" Ino asked, mouth turned down into a grimace as she glanced up at the skies, then at the boy on the ground.

Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders, and a minute smile touched his lips.

"There nothing really exciting about them per say, they're just…nice. They're so free. They have no responsibilities or obligations. They just drift about their domain, without a care in the world, all snowy white and pure."

Ino's puckered brow deepened and she squinted up at the sky.

"And you _like_ looking at them?"

"Yeah. It's relaxing. And it's interesting seeing what different shapes they can take on."

"Different shapes? Like what?" She sat back down next to him, gaze still locked on the heavens.

"Well…look." He pointed. "That one right there sort of looks like a boat, doesn't it? But if you turn your head at this angle, it kind of resembles the Hokage's headdress."

Ino's mouth formed a small O before curving upwards in a delighted smile.

"Yes, I see!"

She lay down beside him on the grassy surface. Her countenance bore none of its former venom as she pointed.

"And that one there looks like one of Asuma-sensei's cigarettes."

He looked up at the thin, stick-like form with a trailing, wispy mist protruding at one end, then at Ino.

"Yeah. And if you squint your eyes just so, it looks like an arrow."

"Hmm. Oh, look, a shuriken!"

Shikamaru turned to face her, cocoa eyes calculating and discerning. He decided that he liked his team-mate better this way. Her face was soft and pliant as she gazed up at the clouds, and her cobalt eyes were shining. He had never seen her this calm, this relaxed.

She turned to find him observing her, and her golden eyebrows furrowed together. Shikamaru braced himself. Now, she would surely yell at him not to stare at her like that, and to stop being an idiot, or something of the like. Ino, after all, couldn't help being Ino. He steeled himself for the onslaught.

None came. Her mouth split into a broad smile.

"I see what you mean, Shikamaru. This really is…nice."

He tried to hide his shock.

"And the thing about it," she continued, "is that you can cloud-watch almost anywhere, because, you know, the clouds are just always there. So you can stop in the middle of doing anything to look up at the sky. For example….. _training!_"

With that, she pulled him to his feet by his ear, getting up in the process, and started half-leading, half-dragging him in the direction of the Nara home.

He sighed. He supposed he couldn't have expected her to just forget about it, but he certainly had been hoping. Oh, well. Though it would be troublesome (already, he could smell smoke), he supposed he'd train. And besides, what Ino said was true. The clouds were always there, pristine white and free. Shikamaru looked at the girl who had a firm grip on his right ear and gave a crooked smile. And though they were almost complete opposites, the same was true for Ino.

_**END.**_

(1) Are they damn big? I don't know, never seen them. Sorry if this is inaccurate.


End file.
